By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Alessandro de Tullio may be newer to the spotlight than some of his INDY NXT peers, but the 19-year-old is already showing why he deserves to be there.
He’s damn fast.
Only a rookie, de Tullio has a series-leading five poles this season for AJ Foyt Racing, one of which he converted into his first win at Barber in March. He sits sixth in the INDY NXT standings with nine races to go, 74 points behind Ed Carpenter Racing’s Nikita Johnson.
But all told, 2026 has been a mixed bag.
“It’s been frustrating to be on the bad end of things more than once, more than twice, especially after securing pole position,” de Tullio said. “But it’s the way racing works. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. There are things you can control and things you can’t.
“Right now, the good thing is we’re doing things right. We’re fast. We’ve been on the front row seven out of eight races, been on pole five out of eight races. So we’ve made a really big step up since Arlington. It doesn’t matter if we’re on an oval, street course or road course. We’ve proven to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest. That’s obviously great, and that’s down to the work the whole team puts in.”
Among the setbacks he referenced was a collision while battling for the lead in the first Barber race, “a fight that ended in tears,” as he put it. However, he rebounded immediately, winning the second race of the weekend.
But more misfortune followed. A subpar weekend at Indy gave way to disaster in Detroit, where de Tullio was taken out on the opening lap after starting from pole.
His luck finally turned in early June during his first oval start at Gateway. After qualifying second, he finished where he started, scoring his second podium of the season and proving he’s far from a one-trick pony.
“We did one day of tests there and one day of tests in Nashville before getting this first oval race out of the way,” de Tullio said. “So driving the car itself wasn’t anything new. We did some race sim, some qualy sim. I think that was the biggest learning curve, actually going into qualifying where it really counts and you can’t make a mistake because you have only two laps.
“We couldn’t even do our qualy sim because I was stuck behind a car and ended up having to box, so we went into qualifying blind. It was a bit of a shot in the dark. But I trusted my engineer and we had a good qualy, so that was obviously a good start. Luckily the safety car came out late, so everything bunched up, and then I had a few good restarts. And yeah, we came away with P2.”
The Argentinian American, who also has Cuban and Italian heritage, hopes the momentum from that run, and maybe even the good vibes from Lionel Messi’s World Cup hat trick and his own upcoming golden birthday, carries into Road America this weekend. There, a doubleheader will be accompanied by a birthday dinner to celebrate ditching his teens.
It will be the latest in a line of off-track highs this season.
After his Barber win, he returned to his hometown of Doral, where the Florida native was honored with his very own “Alessandro de Tullio day.”
“That was a really special day for me, being recognized by the city where I grew up and the city that I still live in,” de Tullio said. “It was an awesome day to be recognized by the city and by the mayor. Getting my own day is pretty cool. I love living here and I love the community I live in.”
That was followed by another first: meeting two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso.
“He’s someone I grew up watching, and I really idolized him growing up since I started karting at 4 years old,” de Tullio said. “It was cool. I was able to tell him that I had his flag with the Ferrari logo and his signature. Actually, I still have it up in my room, so it was cool just telling him that.
“Then we talked about racing, you know, general driver stuff. Very, very good guy. Very normal. It was great to chat with someone of that caliber and see how low-key and normal they are.”
If he learned any tricks of the trade from the racing legend, de Tullio kept them to himself, not wanting to give his competitors any inside knowledge. Alonso, 44, has spent more time racing in F1 than de Tullio has been alive.
The 19-year-old hopes to match that longevity someday.
De Tullio began racing nationally in the micro category at 6 before joining the USF Juniors Championship in 2022. Last year, he raced in the USF Pro 2000 Championship, where he won four races and finished fourth in the standings.
Now, de Tullio is one step closer to a coveted INDYCAR seat. After experiencing his first Indianapolis 500 in person in May, he has his eyes fully set on the opportunity that could await him in the future.
“It was my first time being there, and I was there with the team, so that was pretty cool to basically be backstage and see how everything works,” de Tullio said. “Being in a debrief as well with the drivers, seeing how they communicate and how different the communication is at an oval like Indianapolis.
“And then the event itself was also spectacular. It’s full of people. It’s a great show. The race ended up being epic, so it was all around a really fun weekend and a weekend that I learned a good amount.”
He paused, then added:
“When you’re there, it boils your blood a bit,” de Tullio said. “Because you want to be driving, but it was good to be there because you also kind of visualize yourself in one of those cars racing there one day. So it’s all around really cool.”
Someone who can empathize with de Tullio and the trajectory he’s on is AJ Foyt Racing driver and INDYCAR rookie Caio Collet, who spent last season battling for an INDY NXT title before making the leap to the No. 4 Chevrolet in 2026.
The team also employs series veteran Santino Ferrucci, giving Foyt a well-rounded lineup on track and a deep knowledge bank for young drivers such as de Tullio and INDY NXT teammate Nicholas Monteiro.
That range of experience has been a massive boost for de Tullio in his rookie season.
“It’s great to see how they work and how they communicate,” de Tullio said. “It’s very professional in INDYCAR and I want to try to learn as much as possible. It’s good because I can see both sides of it. I can see it on the rookie side, like Caio who is in his debut year, and I can see it from a more veteran, experienced driver like Santino.
“It’s really good to see Caio showing promise and doing well. It’s nice because just last year he was in INDY NXT in the same position we’re all in right now, and it’s good to see a driver who finishes INDY NXT and moves up to INDYCAR and right from the get-go, he’s right on it. It pushes me to do the same.”
It’s all part of what de Tullio describes as a healthy relationship with the team and his fellow drivers, with the biggest disagreements coming over favorite soccer players – he’s Messi and Maradona, while Collet, a Brazilian, would disagree, he thinks – and over padel skills.
“Off track I’ve had a few dinners with the team and teammates, and we’ve had a few pickleball matches, so I can’t really choose one favorite moment,” de Tullio said. “We’ve had fun off track. It’s a nice group we have. Everyone gets along.”
De Tullio says he’s decent at pickleball and strong at padel compared to his competitors but not compared to someone who actually plays padel.
“I suck,” he said with a laugh.
But on the racetrack, it’s a different story. As the 2026 INDY NXT season reaches its halfway point, de Tullio stacks up well against his competitors. Not only do his five poles lead the series, but his 56 laps led are second only to HMD Motorsports’ Tymek Kucharczyk.
And even with a rash of misfortune, and some self-inflicted wounds as he admits, he’s choosing to embrace the road ahead and what it could mean for him and his team the rest of the season and beyond.
“I just hope to keep chipping away,” de Tullio said. “We’re still in the hunt. We have the pace to be in the hunt. We just need things to go our way for a longer period of time. But I’m confident with the team and with the car that we can possibly make a comeback.
“I’m not thinking about the championship right now. I never have, and I still don’t. Especially now, there’s even less of a point to look at the championship when you’re a ways back and you just need good results and race wins to bring you back in it. So we’ll keep pushing, stay focused and get a few more race wins if we can and then see how things unfold.”